Donnie Nelson: Hiring new top assistant will fall to Rick Carlisle

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Donnie Nelson, the general manager and president of basketball operations for the Mavericks, said the team anticipated it could lose assistant coach Terry Stotts this summer, and has been working behind the scenes for a possible replacement. Stotts was named Tuesday at the new head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Nelson said the job of hiring a new top assistant would fall primarily to head coach Rick Carlisle.

“Certainly, this is something that has been a possibility for a while, and Rick is fully aware of that and fully prepared. I’m sure he has a list of people he will contact or already has contacted.” Nelson said. “That being said, we have not all sat in a room together and discussed this, so that’s probably the next step.”

Carlisle is in London right now.

The guess is the Mavericks will be looking for a top assistant with plenty of experience, possibly as a head coach in the past.

The Mavericks have now lost their top two assistants off the NBA championship team, as Dwane Casey became the head coach of the Toronto Raptors last year. Nelson said that’s part of the business when you have good people.

“We couldn’t be more proud of Terry,” Nelson said. “He’s one of the good guys of the NBA, and he certainly deserves this opportunity. He has tremendous experience, and we think he’ll be a great fit in Portland.”